Process of continuously annealing and puatlng wire



(No Model.)

J. OOFFIN. PROCESS OF GONTINUOUSLY ANNBALING AND PLATING WIRE.

Patented Sept. 3, 1889.

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WI TNE SSE S.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. P

JOHN COFFIN, OF JOHNSTOWVN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE CAM BRIA IRON COMPANY, OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF CONTINUOUSLY ANNEALING AND PLATING WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 410,313, dated September 3, 1889.

Application filed February 18, 1889. Serial No. 300,221. (No model.)

7 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN COFFIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at J ohnstown, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Process of Continuously Annealing and Plating \Vire; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improved process or method of treating wire in its transit through a continuous annealing and plating plant; and it consists in means of reducing the temperature of the wirebefore it enters the acid bath, so as to make the action of the acid on the wire more thorough and uniform. In the art of continuous annealing and plating wire, the wire, after passing through the annealing bath or furnace, enters the acid while yet quite hot. A certain degree of heat is required to make the acid most active, yet if the wire is too hot it will volatilize the acid, and the great volume of the gas produced by the volatilization of the muriatic acid causes a spheroidal state to be formed, and large spots of the wire will pass through the acid surrounded by envelopes of gas, so that the liquid acid can only come into imperfect 'contact with the wire, and cannot thoroughly clean it for properly receiving the plating metal. I have filed an application, Serial No. 281,263, fora patent on the process of continuous annealing and plating wire, which consists in the passage of the wire through a conduit filled with gas after its emergence from theannealing bath or furnace and prior to its entrance into the acid bath. This conduit is made of suflicient length to anneal the wire While surrounded by non-oxidizing gas; but it is found by experiment that'the length of conduit which will sufficiently cool the wire to insure the very best results with the acid is so great as to practically prohibit its use.

To provide for cooling the wire to the proper degree before it enters the acid without entailing the expense of a Very long gasconduit is the object of my present invention.

To accomplish the result sought I interpose between the gas-conduit and the acid bath a trough of water through which the wire passes, and by maintaining the water at a 5 proper temperature I cause the wire to enter the acid ata uniform and proper temperature, which I judge to be about 190 Fahrenheit.

As the wire enters the Water-trough above,

this temperature, all that is necessary to maintain the proper temperature of the Water is to so regulate the cold-water supply that the temperature of the water bath will remain nearly constant and at the desired point. I

parts throughout.

A is the gas-conduit leading from the annealing bath or furnace. This conduit is shown in section in Fig. 3.

B is the Water-cooling trough, and b is a roller arranged within the water-trough B and adapted to act as a sinker to hold the Wires down-under the surface of the Water in the trough B. k i

O is a series of guide-sheaves over which the wire passes in its passage from the watertrough B to the acid tank, which is represented y (Z is the usual sandstone sinker designed to hold the wires down under the surface of the acid in the acid-tank D while in their passage through the same.

WV represents a wire in place which travels in the direction of the arrows. Only'one wire is shown in the drawings, yet it is understood a series of wires are intended to be run through the apparatus at the same time.

In operating the invention the wire is placed in coils upon suitable paying-off reels, and is passed directly through a heating furnace or bath of molten lead, thence into and through the conduit A, which is filled with a suitable non-oxidizing gas and is of sufficient length to allow the wire to cool sufficiently to be thoroughly annealed-say to a point below incandescenc'e, or to a point just showing a faint red in the dark-thence directly into the water' contained in the tank B and under the rollers Z), the water in the tank B being maintained at a proper suitable temperature-say 190 Fahrenheitby the introduction of a sufficient quantity of cold water, which may flow continually from a graduated opening in a suit-able water-supply pipe. l/Vires then pass over the guidesheaves O and into the acid-tank D, which they enter at a proper temperature to insure the most rapid action of the muriat-ic acid. The wires pass from the acid-tank D into a suitable bath of molten plating metal, which is sufficiently understood by those familiar with the art to require no drawings or description. After passing through the metal bath the surplus plating metal is wiped off by any of the usual appliances, and the wire is coiled on the usual blocks into marketable bundles.

I am aware that a process of annealing, cleaning, and coating wire has been invented, in which, between the annealing and plating operations and prior to the passage of the wire through the acid, the wire passi s through a series of receptacles filled with sand, and in one of these receptacles the sand is wet with water. This process is essentially a scouring process, and has no relation to my claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

-1. In the art or process of annealing and plating wire by a continuous operation, the improvement which consists in first passing the wire through asuitable red-hot annealing bath or furnace, thence through a conduit filled with non-oxidizing gas, thence through a bath of water, thence through a bath of acid, and thence through a bath of molten zinc or other plating metal, substantially as specified and set forth.

2. In the art or process of annealing and plating wire by a continuous operation, the improvement consisting in the following steps: first, passing the wire through an annealingfurnace or its equivalent; second, through a bath of water; third, through a bath of cleaning-acid, and, finally, through a bath of molten plating metal, substantially as specified and set forth.

In testimony whereof I affi x my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN COFFIN. lVi-tnesses:

JAMES CRANsToN, E. E. SLICK. 

